Do You Know?
by Hotarukun
Summary: Mainly some SaiIno, but implied NaruSaku.


"Sai! Ne, Sai!"

Ino frowned and shivered as she reached out to touch the pale boy's face with the tips of her cold fingers.

"Sai," she repeated.

"Nn?" He opened his dark eyes slowly.

The blonde's frown deepened and her aquamarine eyes narrowed in concern. "Sai, you have to get up. We have to keep moving. It's getting colder in here by the second. We have to keep our blood warm."

The ebony eyes glanced up at the ice crystal dome they were trapped in. "Right." He staggered to his feet, swaying slightly. "We should keep together, too, right? Body heat and all that."

Ino nodded, her long ponytail swaying as the boy shivered. Sai wasn't really acting like himself. He brushed some ice shards out of his black hair, the remnants of an earlier jutsu used by the same enemy.

Now that she had grown to know him, Sai didn't look like Sasuke to her at all. Sure, they both had dark hair and eyes. But Sai was much paler, a trait that Ino couldn't fathom, with him being on a mission at all times where the sun could get him, and wearing so little.

Sai was also…reachable. Emotionally. Sure, Sasuke and Sai both wore that same stoic expression. But, Sai had begun to smile and laugh, at least trying to know and acknowledge his team and the others.

A sigh, loud in the empty dome startled her out of her thoughts.

"What do we do now, then?" Sai murmured more to himself than to her.

She caught his knees shaking and sent him a glare. "Keep moving!" She commanded in her best authoritative medic-nin voice.

Sai nodded again and started circling their entrapment, looking for a weakening of chakra or a way out.

Ino started jumping up and down in place herself, her breath making small clouds.

"Ino, stay by me."

She blinked in surprise. "Eh?"

Sai motioned towards him fiercely. "You're the medic ninja of this mission. Nothing can happen to you. And we're not familiar with this jutsu. They could be surveying us from the outside. We have to stay together."

She gave him one, firm nod. "Yeah." That was the most she had ever heard Sai say at one time.

_Crrrk—_

Ino stopped and Sai looked over. "Ino?" She didn't answer, putting a finger to her lips.

_Crrrk—_

There it was again. Where was it coming from? "Ino, what is it?" Sai was whispering.

_Crrrrrrrkkk—_

It was getting louder every time and this time Ino could pinpoint it exactly. And so could Sai.

They both gaped up in surprise at the large crack appearing in the ice above Sai. "Wha—?"

_CRRK-SHH!_

Ino felt her legs moving before she thought she had told them to. "Watch out!"

"Ino! Ino!"

Sai shook the girl by the shoulders in a panic, her violet clothing and pale back covered in blood and ice. Her hair had come loose, pieces cut off here and there from the sharp edges of the falling ice shards.

_It's still getting colder. We need to get out of here._

He gently lifted the blonde off of him, feeling a strong surge of gratitude and worry so heavy that he staggered. Or that could've been Ino. She was murmured something inaudible to him, eyes shut tightly against the cold.

"What is it?"

She opened her eyes slightly as Sai shifted. "Keep…moving."

He felt a small smile tug at his lips, something that was happening more frequently.

"Right," he said softly, eyeing the hole the crack had caused and leaping through it.

"…Seriously…and she chooses _now_ to go all bad-ass and rescue-mode, eh? Ino-pig."

The blonde kunoichi blinked slowly, wincing as she felt the small wounds in her back. What was that? Was someone insulting and at the same time, making it sound tender? Could only be one person… "Sakura?"

The other medic-nin jumped a little and stopped her healing abruptly. "Ino, jeez."

"Hell to you, too, Forehead-girl," she said weakly with a smirk. She struggled up into a sitting position, ignoring Sakura's angry protests.

Ino glanced around. "Where's Sai? And Naruto? Are they alright?"

Sakura nodded and reached up to wipe her liquid green eyes tiredly. "What was all that about, anyway, Ino?"

The girl lifted and dropped a shoulder as a reply. "You have to look out for your comrades, right?"

Sakura sighed and studied her friend. Ino, covered in her own blood from stepping into a situation voluntarily and saving someone. The thought was foreign to the pink-haired medic ninja.

"What happened?" Sakura asked softly. And by the tone of her voice, Ino knew she wasn't speaking of the incident that had occurred in the jutsu their enemy had left them in.

Ino turned her head completely away from Sakura as she spoke. "Sakura, when you were in love with Sasuke, did you want to protect him no matter what?"

Sakura didn't answer. She didn't know how to.

"I think I might feel that way…about Sai." Ino said after a while when the other girl didn't reply.

Sakura sighed again. "I never felt that way about Sasuke."

Ino looked at her then, eyes large. "But I thought that you—"

Sakura shrugged, similar to the way Ino had moments before. "Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't."

Ino thought way back to their chunin exams: Sakura, holding onto Zaku's arm with her teeth as he bashed her head. Had that been just for Sasuke? Or maybe…

Ino narrowed her eyes. "Sakura, do you—?"

"Sakura-chan! Ino! You're alright!"

The girls both turned to their right to find Sai and Naruto emerging from the trees around the site.

"Naruto," Sakura murmured in greeting and Ino knew that she wouldn't have to ask her question again at a later time.

Sai caught sight of Ino and his ebony eyes flashed. She caught his expression and gasped in surprise (and a little fright) as he dropped to his knees and grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her.

"Don't…ever…do that…again." Each group of words was emphasized by a firm shake.

Ino blinked and then grinned into his glaring eyes. "Kay!"

Naruto lifted an eyebrow. "Did I miss something?"

Sakura glanced at him. "Naruto, you miss _everything_."

"S—Sakura-chan…"

Epilogue

"Well, I guess this mission is a failure," Sakura said heavily, imagining Tsunade's incurring wrath.

Sai closed his eyes in agreement.

Naruto stood up suddenly, and more to Sai and Sakura's surprise, so did Ino.

"What?!" The two blue-eyed blondes chorused.

"We shouldn't give up yet!" Naruto was saying indignantly. "Ino's fine, aren't you, Ino?"

She was nodding before he had finished speaking. "Mm! Mm! We should continue the mission! Exactly as Naruto said!"

Sai and Sakura exchanged wary looks. "What happened?" He muttered to her and she shook her head in disbelief.


End file.
